WhatThis is of course what I'm most excited about. I've been working hard to create more products for Kitty Confetti. What's Kitty Confetti? You know party cats are just throwing catnip around like Scrooge McDuck in his money vault. So for all those times you aren't sure what to get your cat loving friend I've got Kitty Confetti; a whole line of easy cat gifts and stationary. At the Pop-up I'll be debuting a whole bunch of new items like cards made with that gelatin cat print you see up there.

What else to doAll Good Pizza is a good ways down 3rd Street so you might be wondering what else can I do while in the Bay View? FIRST, come to the pop-up! Then walk just half a block down to the garden oasis that is Flora Grubb. Inside Flora Grubb you'll find Ritual Coffee along with a pussy cat lounging around somewhere. If you've got your car handy I also recommend checking out Building Resources where you could pick up a salvaged door or some tumbled glass. For something else that's a different type of old there's a wonderful antique store you could spend hours in called the Richard Gervais Collection. Unfortunately they're not open on Sundays but I wanted to mention it while highlighting some of the Bayview businesses.

Lastly I wanted to say a little note about this blog. If you frequent it often you may have noticed I've been lax on posting this past month. It's definitely due to all the work I'm putting into Kitty Confetti. But I wanted to assure you that I'm not done having this blog conversation. As I focus on new and old creative passions the blog is the place I've come to share them. And it's still the place I plan to share... but perhaps just not once a week like I was able to do for the last couple of years. if you want to make sure you're up do date on any of my creative happenings do stay connected by subscribing to my monthly Tiny Letter.

Tuesday (July 14, 2015) was the culmination of my 100 Days Of Day Break Playproject.The quick project explanation is that for 100 days I played with craft within the beginnings of my day. I averaged about 35 minutes creating each morning spending over 55 hours total in time. Because making is something that fundamentally grounds me the goal of the project was to carve out time and routine in my day that would give me this space for making, EVERYDAY. I wrote a blog post at the project's start with some of my initial thoughts. You can also learn about the whole larger 100 Days Project here.

Having my project be tied to a specific time of the day was really helpful for getting it done. I could not procrastinate the activity because I knew that if I was not creating by a certain point in my morning there would be no going back in time. I could not let the morning slip away. There were only a couple instances where I fudged a bit. Like waking up on the forth day of camping after staying up almost 'til dawn singing and drawing by a campfire. I needed to hit the road home first thing so I decided that the spirit of my project had already been fulfilled.

I thought the beginning of the project would be the toughest part but at about day 52 I was surprised to find I'd hit a bit of a wall. This was after returning from the forest and I think I was feeling exhausted and grumpy with the constraint I'd put on myself. But I powered through and at a few days later it felt easier again.

The only other challenge was planning around travel and making sure I packed art supplies that would allow me to make wherever I was in the morning even if that was at the airport. (A bonus was it made waiting in the airport more enjoyable.)

Knowing I'd have my project to work on in the morning almost always brought a positive start to the day and flushed away any awkward feelings from the day before. Overall I felt rejuvenated each morning.

The circular Zendala pictured the largest was my mornings creation on the hundredth day. I combined imagery from the tiles and palms I was inspired by on my trip to Mexico.

Two weeks ago I went to Sayulita, Mexico which brought lots of creative inspiration for the sprint to the 100 days finish line. I stayed in a hacienda with an abundance of patterns that I could draw from (pun intended).

I am so thankful for the 100 days project and the routine it helped me to create for myself. I'll be keeping it up even if I don't share everyday on Instagram. Being able to see what others on Instagram were creating was also motivating combined with having my friend Ann along for the ride to reflect on the project milestones with. Do take a look at her paper experiments.

I've enjoyed the Instagram community aspect of the project but I'm also excited to see what I'll make without feeling the obligation of sharing everyday. Obligation might be a heavier word than I intend but not sharing everyday I think will bring a different type of freedom to my morning routine. But I do plan on sharing those morning creative stretches here and there because the sharing has become routine as well.

In the future I'd like to do the 100 days project with more focus. My project was focused on a new habit with very broad creative freedom... next time I'd like to try something with more parameters. Here are a few of the projects with specific parameters I enjoyed watching unfold over the last 100 days.

A few weeks ago I shared my process and final submission to the Strike Away show. The show is up! It's so lovely but only up for a bit longer (until June 30th, 2015). I couldn't come to the opening night but I imagine it was packed with people because over 200 artists created over 400 mostly little works of art.

While working on my own project and leading up to the show I saw the continual work flow of other artists on Instagram using the #strikeaway hashtag. Courtney Cerruti and Alicia Dornadic who curated the show shared their progress of receiving and organizing all the work for display. Even with all that visual knowledge it was a pleasant surprise to see how they displayed everything. Because most of the art is small and light in weight the match boxes and books are pinned to a display surface in wall cases. The presentation has a very entomological feel, full of curiosities, perfectly fitting of it's location at Paxton Gate's Curiosities for Kids. You can gaze a long time and still see something new.

Courtney and Alicia used Instargam to call for entries. Because art flowed in from reaches beyond San Francisco I imagine many artists haven't seen the show. I hope this little taste helps give an idea of the exhibit. I've done my best to link to artists I've shown in the pics. Do let me know if I missed someone.

Spring in San Francisco has been blooming art excursions everywhere. Studio tours and Art Market happened a couple weeks ago. This year Art Market brought a mini Art Basel type experience to the Fort Mason area. At least that's what I imagine. I haven't yet been to Art Basel.

Art Market has been happening in SF for 5 years. This year felt different because a couple other events popped up at the same time to share in the buzz of art enthusiasts. If you don't know what Art Market is, it's an opportunity for galleries to show off the artists they represent all in one place. It feels like a contemporary art museum but you can purchase the art... well, someone can purchase the art.

Happening at the same time this year was StArt Up Fair at Hotel Del Sol. This was a way for artist without representation to showcase their work for sale and potentially find representation. Being a short distance from Art Market hopefully enticed some galleries over to check out the work. I attended StArt Up and it was one of the most unique art going experiences I've had. Every hotel room featured an artist. All the regular hotel fixtures where still in the room including the beds. This meant some unique ways of exhibiting. Art hung on the cieling. Art laying on the bed. Art in the bathroom. Art clipped to hangers inside closets. Art as an immersive experience.

Lastly there was also the Parking Lot Art Fair. Unfortunately I couldn't go but did have a friend who participated. The parking lot show was a rogue take-over of several parking lots that most people walk through to enter the Fort Mason complex. I heard artists showed up at 6am to stake their claim. Most artists created installations as this event was not about selling but about the conversation of Art.

I only spent one afternoon perusing the art but one could easily spend the whole weekend. Below I'm sharing just a handful of the pieces from Art Market that caught my eye. If you're in the area and missed it this year it's worth putting on your calendar for next. And keep a look out for any other art fairs that may spring up next year.

Writing Strike Anywhere, Inspiration Everywhere on the my Strike Away Show submission was the last decision I made when making this art piece. And this piece is the end result of 2 weeks of play.

The Strike Away Show is a soon to be mounted exhibit of over 300 artists who have all used matches, matchbooks or matchboxes as their medium, inspiration, or canvas.

A couple weeks ago I wrote about my participation in The 100 Day Project and that my 100 days would be spent creating a routine for play (with craft and art) at the beginning of my day. Once I decided to make work for The Strike Away Show, I only had 2 weeks to complete my piece. It was the perfect opportunity to use my morning make sessions as the time to do the bulk of that work.

A sampling of some of the photos I shared on Instagram.

Everyday I would post a photo of progress on Instagram. My progress was my play and experiments. I was using those moments of play to find inspiration for what to create with my matchboxes. I had bought 20 little matchboxes fully intending to use them as my micro canvases. But what to put on them? It wasn't until the second week of play that I decided I'd use my experiments to recreate a matchbox of my own.

My piece is both a matchbox and a matchbook.

As I was finalizing my piece I realized, Strike Anywhere, Inspiration Everywhere, was a fitting statement for the process of creating my matchbox.